Safety device for automatic firearms



June 18, 1929. K. HEINEMANN SAFETY DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS Filed Nov. 15, 1928 Kai-Z flez nemcznn/ t; M rm NEK Patented June 18, 1929.

UNITED STATES Q-FF'I CEL KARL HEINEMANN', OF DUSSELDOBF, GERMAN Y, 'ASSIGNOR -'10-BHEINISCHE METALL- WAARENUND MASCHINENFABRIK, OF DUSSELDOBF-DERENDORF, GERMANY.

SAIli ETY- DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS.

Application filed November 15, 1928, Serial No. 319,538, and in Germany August 25, 1926'.

'In automatic the arms a spring, the so called closing spring,'is tensioned by opening the breech which spring afterwards on of;- tending returns the breech into the closed position in the barrel. Ifafter firing the breech is automatically opened by the force of the powder gases, the closing spring simultaneously serves as a brake for annulling'the duced bythe spring jamming or becoming worn out, or if {by rupture of; the Spring this force ceasesaltogether, either the automatic action of the arm is stopped orithe unbrak'e'd running back massesmeet with great force the fixed limiting stops of the arm' which thereby may be destroyed." The "breech is Opened thereby too early and'the operator 1 will be exposed to dangerby po\vder"-g'ases escaping backwards.

These draw-backs are obviated according to the present invention by means of a safety device which automatically prevents'the release of the tensioncd percussion'device for firing purposes, whereby the'force applied by the closing spring tothe breech is reduced below that necessary and admissible for the regular forward and backward running of the inovable'masses. The object aimed at is obtained by a safety member-influenced by the force of the closing spring in such a manner, that, by the normal pressure of the closing spring, it is brought out of the locking position into a position ready for allowing the release of the percussion device, whereas, after the force of the closing spring. has been reduced below a certain degree,"the safety memberis by the load of a spring automatically brought into the locking position in which the release of the percussion device is prevented.

The safety devicemay, in a well known manner, simultaneously be used to automatically prevent the release of the percussion device and thereby the firing at'not perfectly closed breech,if the safety member is directly or indirectly connected to the closing spring in such. a manner, that it is subjected to the force of said spring and brought by samefrom the-locking position into the position ready for acting only, when the breech is perfectly closed.

The safety device may be used in connection with all-kinds of automatic fire arms,

i. 'e. arms having a fixed or a sliding barrel,

a'locked or'unlocked breech and irrespective (if-particular breech constructions (straight moving,rotatable or toggle joint 'breeches).

'In tl1e accompanyingdrawing the invention is shown by way of example in connection with an automatic fire arm provided with a toggle joint breech.

Fig. 1 shows the'breech of the arm, the side wall of the casing being removed, the percussion device istensione'd and the breech isclosed. 'Figy2'is aplan view of Fig. '1 partly in section.

The breech device consists in known mannor of the breech portion a, the two-part toggleleverb '7), and the-closing spring 0. By pressure exerted by the bearing 0 of the bolt of the closing spring upon a projection 72 of the toggle jointpa-rt bf pivoted upon a pin 7) carried by the casing of the arm, the toggle'joint is brought into the stretched position and thereby the breech portion a is broughtintothe closed position.

The percussion device consists of the spring actuated cock (I which is held in its tcnsioned position by the tension member 0. The trigger f, pivoted in the casing of the arm, carries at its upper end the spring actuated pivoted trigger tongue 9 the front end of which is, inthe position of rest ofthe trigger f, situated a small distance above the rearwardly extending lever arm a of the tension member 0.

According to the invention asafety lever h is pivotally arranged between the closing spring device 0, c and the trigger device f, g in such a manner, that its arm h extends into the path of the movable closing spring bolt 0 while its other arm h is situated above the tongue 9 pivoted to the trigger A spring 2' acting upon the arm h tends to move the safety lever it against the tongue 9 and simultaneously holds the second arm h of the safety lever 71 in engagement with the bolt 0 of the closing spring 0.

When the breech is closed, the bolt 0 of theclosing spring 0 is shifted rearwardly so far, that the safety'lever his, against the action of the s ring '2', in such aposition, that the arm 7L2 I as no eifec't'npoii the trigger or automatically into the position shown in dash-and-dotted lines in Fig. 2, the'projection b of the toggle lever 12 presses forward the bolt of the closing spring 0, whereby the closing spring 0 is compressed or tensioned. :Under, the pressure of the spring 11 the arm h of the safety lever it follows the movement :of the bolt 0 whereby the second arm It? of the safety lever hpresses upon the trigger tongue g which is, against the action of; the, spring f ,-turned about the pivot pin carried bythetrigger f and moved out of the path of the arn e of the tension member c, It is ,now, impossible to influence the percussion device by thetrigger. device. If then the trigger is drawn back, the tongue g turns downward behind the ann a ofthe tension member e and no release .ofthetensioned cock .dloeeurs. g;

a The 7 same I Jobtaiiied; if i the pressureof' the. closure spring npon. the 'bolt 0 is,

rupture or becoming worn out of the spri g,- d ced i {$1 9 ext that the spring i overcomes thestill. remaining force of the closing spring .and swings the safety vlever. hin an anti-clockwise direction, where- :by; at the one hand the .bolt chofthe closing sprin'g ispressed forward and at the other hand the tongueS ofthe triggerv f is swung backward out'of the rangeof the arm 6 of the .tension member e.; Theforce of the spring.

23 is so chosen, that ,the lever h is automatical- 1y swung by the spring 2' into, the locking position in which the trigger device has no influence upon the percussion device, as soon as the force of the closing 'spring cis reduced below that necessary and admiss ible for the regular rearward and forward running of the breech portions.

In the example shown, the force of the closing spring a is transmitted to the safety member h by the movable bolt 0 of the closing spring acting upon the breech portion (1. According to another construction. this may be effected directly by the breech portion a, or the closing spring may be caused to act upon the safety lever h by way of the second bearing c of the closing spring which inthis 'case would then also be made movable. In this effectiveonly if thegclosing spring weakens or breaks which, however, allows firing even if the breech isnot perfectly closed.

Instead of preventing the release of the percussion device by preventing the trigger device from influencing the percussion device, as described above, thesafety lever could be causedto directly lockthe trigger or percussion device in the manner of the locking members of the ordinary hand actuated safety devices. Of course, the safety lever must then be of other construction, for instance, be formed and arrangedas a slide. Obviously, the fire arm may have, besides the safety device according to the invention, also a hand actuated safety device in which case, for the purpose of simplifying and reducing the single parts, both devices are preferably organically connected to each other. To obtain this, a locking member for the trigger device or the percussion device may, for instance, be controlled automatically by the force of the closing spring as well as by hand by means of a suitable handle.

. \Vhat I claim is:

1. Ina safety device for automatic fire arms, a breech, a closing spring for sa1d breech, a percussion device, a safety device cooperating with said percussion device and a but being, under the influence of said second mentioned spring, brought automatically into a locking position preventing the release of said percussion device as soon as the force of said closing spring is reduced below that necessary and admissible for the normal rearward and forward running of the movable masses."

2. In a safety device for automatic fire arms, a breech, a closing spring for said breech, a bolt movably arranged in said closing spring, a bearing provided at said bolt, a percussion device, a safety device cooperating with said percussion device and a second spring adapted to influence said safety device, said closing spring influencing said safety device by said bearing acting upon said breech if said breech is perfectly closed only, so that firing is prevented not only if said closing spring is out of order but also, in known manner, if the breech is not perfectly closed.

' 3. In a safety device for automatic fire arms, a breech, a closing spring for said breech, a bolt movably arranged in said closing spring, abearing provided at said bolt,

percussion device, a safety device cooperatsignature.

KARL HEINEMANN. 

